Monday, August 14, 2006
Easyjet Complaint number 2270 #3
I've just tried calling the easyjet customer services number to get a refund for the disrutpions to Barcelona airport on July 28th and there is a queue in excess of 30 minute, or 3€. When will this get sorted?????
Friday, August 11, 2006
Easyjet Complaint number 2270 #2
No doubt many people are aware of the airport strike on Friday 28th of July 2006 which led to Barcelona airport being closed. I was unaware of anything happening that day until I was informed of the situation around 7pm that evening. I had a flight booked to London Luton for 22:30 and as soon as I heard something was going on, I immediately consulted the easyjet.com website for further details.
I went to the live arrivals page and to my horror, I noticed that all flights coming into and leaving Barcelona were cancelled. I had a wedding to go to and as it is peak season, I began to worry. However, at this time, my flight was not listed on the arrivals page, so I maintained a glimmer of hope that things might sort themselves out at Barcelona airport and that my flight would still leave, albeit late. So just to confirm, I decided to call the customer help line. I waited over 20 minutes on the phone and after no-one answered, I decided to hang up. I believe the Spanish number (90 229 9992) is not a freephone number and I was charged at whatever rate was applicable.
As time went on, I noticed that flight arrivals nearing my flight time were appearing on the live flight arrivals page, so I continued monitoring. Then, I thought all my Christmases had come at once. At nearly 20:00, I noticed my flight 2270 Barcelona to London Luton, was coming up on the live arrivals page as 'On Time'. I decided to phone to check this. I again called the number and this time I was informed that all Barcelona flights were disrupted, please go the website to change your flight free of charge.
So I went to the easyjet site (my flight was still coming up as 'On Time'), and I followed the links from the home page article on the "Disruption of flights to/from Barcelona Airport 28th July 2006", and I started the procedure for changing my booking. I clicked on the 'choose alternative flight' option and to my amazement, my flight, 2270 Barcelona to London/Luton was coming up as an option. What could I deduce from this? The flight was still coming up as 'On Time' and also available on the 'transfer disrupted booking' page. But, according to easyjet, all flights in and out of Barcelona were cancelled.
In my opinion, when everything is going well and there are no problems, easyjet are a decent company to fly with. It's when there are any problems whatsoever, that they either offer no help, or they feed you contradictory information, if any at all.
I had no option but to go to the airport and when I arrived, it was jam packed full of people. I then heard announcements over the tannoy that some flights were still going to be leaving Barcelona airport that night. Was I going to be one of the lucky ones? No-one seemed to know for sure. I asked various ground staff who all seemed to say that nothing was leaving. But the tannoy announcements contradicted that. The place was total chaos. The queues were immense. There was a sense of inevitability in the air. I called my girlfriend at home who informed me my flight was still coming up as 'On Time' on the easyjet live arrivals page. I asked a few customers who informed me that there was now no flights to London until Tuesday, unless you got the train to Alicante and flew from there. Other people told me that there were no trains to Alicante as it is peak season.
I decided to cut my losses and return home in order to try and get another flight so I could get to the wedding. After a long and frantic phone call to my girlfried (who was patiently sat at home scouring the net for any flight to the UK), we were able to find a flight on ThomsonFly leaving Reus airport (1 and a half hours by train and then a taxi from Barcelona) and flying into Birmingham. I bought it for a mere ₤41, but might easily have spent up to ₤700 on a flight, as I simply could not miss the wedding.
Once again, Easyjet have failed to provide consistent information to their customers. I have taken screen prints of all the conflicting information from that day, should anyone wish to see it. I am yet to get through to customer services to ask for my refund - I would have thought that they would automatically reimburse anyone who did not change their flight, but in true easyjet style, this has not been the case.
easyconfusion, once again.
I went to the live arrivals page and to my horror, I noticed that all flights coming into and leaving Barcelona were cancelled. I had a wedding to go to and as it is peak season, I began to worry. However, at this time, my flight was not listed on the arrivals page, so I maintained a glimmer of hope that things might sort themselves out at Barcelona airport and that my flight would still leave, albeit late. So just to confirm, I decided to call the customer help line. I waited over 20 minutes on the phone and after no-one answered, I decided to hang up. I believe the Spanish number (90 229 9992) is not a freephone number and I was charged at whatever rate was applicable.
As time went on, I noticed that flight arrivals nearing my flight time were appearing on the live flight arrivals page, so I continued monitoring. Then, I thought all my Christmases had come at once. At nearly 20:00, I noticed my flight 2270 Barcelona to London Luton, was coming up on the live arrivals page as 'On Time'. I decided to phone to check this. I again called the number and this time I was informed that all Barcelona flights were disrupted, please go the website to change your flight free of charge.
So I went to the easyjet site (my flight was still coming up as 'On Time'), and I followed the links from the home page article on the "Disruption of flights to/from Barcelona Airport 28th July 2006", and I started the procedure for changing my booking. I clicked on the 'choose alternative flight' option and to my amazement, my flight, 2270 Barcelona to London/Luton was coming up as an option. What could I deduce from this? The flight was still coming up as 'On Time' and also available on the 'transfer disrupted booking' page. But, according to easyjet, all flights in and out of Barcelona were cancelled.
In my opinion, when everything is going well and there are no problems, easyjet are a decent company to fly with. It's when there are any problems whatsoever, that they either offer no help, or they feed you contradictory information, if any at all.
I had no option but to go to the airport and when I arrived, it was jam packed full of people. I then heard announcements over the tannoy that some flights were still going to be leaving Barcelona airport that night. Was I going to be one of the lucky ones? No-one seemed to know for sure. I asked various ground staff who all seemed to say that nothing was leaving. But the tannoy announcements contradicted that. The place was total chaos. The queues were immense. There was a sense of inevitability in the air. I called my girlfriend at home who informed me my flight was still coming up as 'On Time' on the easyjet live arrivals page. I asked a few customers who informed me that there was now no flights to London until Tuesday, unless you got the train to Alicante and flew from there. Other people told me that there were no trains to Alicante as it is peak season.
I decided to cut my losses and return home in order to try and get another flight so I could get to the wedding. After a long and frantic phone call to my girlfried (who was patiently sat at home scouring the net for any flight to the UK), we were able to find a flight on ThomsonFly leaving Reus airport (1 and a half hours by train and then a taxi from Barcelona) and flying into Birmingham. I bought it for a mere ₤41, but might easily have spent up to ₤700 on a flight, as I simply could not miss the wedding.
Once again, Easyjet have failed to provide consistent information to their customers. I have taken screen prints of all the conflicting information from that day, should anyone wish to see it. I am yet to get through to customer services to ask for my refund - I would have thought that they would automatically reimburse anyone who did not change their flight, but in true easyjet style, this has not been the case.
easyconfusion, once again.
